Variety Pack by AngelOfDeath
by Froot Writes
Summary: Naruto and Sakura have an argument - It's no surprise, since they're such close friends. But Sakura's words come out harsher than she expected. Can she find a way to aologize and save their friendship? Or does her apology make them more than friends?


**This was not written by me (unfortunately), but rather by AngelOfDeath. This was posted only at a site called Blissful Ignorance, or so says ~SakuraHaruno1315 on . Originally, this was posted there by SakuraHaruno1315, but anyone who would have wanted to read it would not only have to find it, on a site where most people don't expect to see fanfiction, but you would also have to create an account to read it (being rated MA.)

So, I bring this to you, written by AngelOfDeath, unedited and in its original form, and hope you enjoy.

VARIETY PACK: NARUSAKU by AngelOfDeath.

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"Naruto, I love you."

The sheet draped around her hips was all that covered her, his sheet, and Sakura lay on her belly with her face cradled in hands supported by elbows in the mattress. Naruto, who had been pulling on his pants, paused. She watched his back straighten and his muscles move under the skin. If there was a way to describe him it would be 'powerfully built', and she knew this intimately. The look he turned on her let her know she was about to experience that knowledge again.

The comment hadn't been off-hand. He knew it as well as she did, but he also hadn't expected to hear it so soon. Things hadn't started out that promising for him yesterday morning, and even last night he had had doubts. Now his heart and mind were full of petal pink hair and smiling lips that welcomed him in the way that previously he could only play out as fantasy.

"Sakura. . ." Naruto knelt down next to her, looking into her eyes as she kept perfectly still in her propped up position on the bed. Her arms were shaking, fingers digging into her cheeks, and her eyes were threatening tears. There was no doubting her sincerity, but he had never doubted it to begin with. If only he could let her see how little his feelings had changed from when he had first laid eyes on her years ago. She was still everything he wanted, and now she was in his reach. "I know."

The grin spread over his face, the one that functioned just as well as a gesture of defiance in battle, and he couldn't help but add. "Took you long enough." He flinched right after the words escaped, anticipating her slap.

The hand that curled around his cheek and stroked his lips with the pad of a thumb caught him off guard. He pushed his cheek into Sakura's hand and she felt his stubble scrape against her palm. Those eyes of his finally opened and at last she confronted the feelings there with complete calm. He knew. . .

It was an insidious feeling. Sakura wished she knew how to pinpoint when her irritation at the golden haired near dropout had become less easily defined and finally transitioned into this feeling that consumed her-frightened her with its intensity. But it had taken literally years, even if it only took a few hours for her to see what the end of it produced.

*

*

They had become friends without a problem, but that distinction caused her no trouble when she was still in her early teens. Naruto had always been an important figure in her life, even when she didn't appreciate him, and even now he did things that drove her crazy. It had been years, and still he tried to ask her out every free chance he got. More than a joke, but with all the outward qualities of one, she reacted as she was expected to with an angry word and a punch to his head. These days she had to punch up instead of down. Time changed the appearance of the beast even if not its nature.

"Come on Sakura. . . I know no one else will see those lovey dovey movies you like so much. . ." He walked backwards, hands behind his head. Naruto was confident of his ability to avoid most obstacles, and it was only because Sakura pushed him that he landed on the ground behind first. It would have been easy to catch himself, but this was all part of the game, the way he let his guard down entirely for her. Above him the early autumn sky was clear, and he admired that view until a more delightful one took its place.

"Naruto, you've got some nerve." Looking down at him with her arms crossed over her chest, she watched him give her his fake wounded expression. It would have been convincing if he didn't start smiling as soon as he began rubbing the spot where she had smacked his chest. Every touch he got from her seemed to be positive in his book. "You know very well the last time I went to a movie with you we saw that action junk you love so much."

She breezed past him and Naruto scrambled up to get in her path again. "That's not fair, Sakura, you know that we were with Kiba and Hinata and Shino and there wasn't any way that you'd get Kiba into one of those sappy flicks. Shino too, for that matter."

"Doesn't matter. You told me that we were all going to see a drama, not a worthless waste of money where hunks of meat hack at one another. I don't need to pay to see that." Sakura tried not to smile. There was fun in this game for her too, even if she never said so out loud. "I just can't trust you."

"Puh-leez, Sakura? I'll even take you out to dinner first."

"Cheap ramen and a bad movie? I think I'll pass. . ."

Their argument continued down the block. Really, she only egged him on because these opportunities had become relatively fewer and far between. Naruto was busy on missions more, having shot through the ranks up to jounin far faster than anyone had expected to except for him. Never had he thought for a second that he would fail, and it was that determination that found him on Sakura's heels at that moment. As soon as he had a day off, he was at her doorstep with that goofy grin and the dreaded 'd' word on his lips. It was ritual, almost, and Sakura thought it was a stupid one. She had said no to a date at least a thousand times. When would he give up?

"What about dinner, a movie, aaaand a mystery gift?" He danced around her to gain her attention as much as keep other people away from her personal space. The casual way in which he had lay claim to her was well known throughout the younger adult set in Konoha. Every boy three villages out knew that there was a certain pink haired kunoichi that you simply did not ask out unless you wanted to risk the wrath of the number one ninja at surprising people. Sakura was vaguely aware of their combined infamy and was slightly put off by it, but also flattered. It did make it difficult to find a date, though. . . not that she had felt like going on any with the men her age. They always seemed to be lacking.

The two bickering friends had emerged onto a main street where people were buying some of the bountiful fall produce out of stalls. This had been the direction of her walk when Naruto had descended upon her. People were haggling and counting out change while others were examining fruit and vegetables for imperfections. There was an invigorating air to the market and a sweet smell of cooking foods from stalls. But Naruto didn't seem to see any of it in favor of concentrating on the girl he had seemingly always chased after with no success.

Blatant attempts to get and hold Sakura's attention aside, Naruto was being particularly annoying today for some reason. Every stall Sakura stopped at he found some way to fiddle with things or get himself in trouble as if he were a small child. She had to pay for one damaged piece of produce after another, and she would be eating bruised fruits for days if she didn't get a handle on him and his limitless energy. The last mission had been a long one and he was excited to see her, she understood, but her patience was limited after the pestering earlier.

"Stop it. It isn't funny, act like a grown up." Naruto, who had been trying to make a little Hokage with a kunai out of a potato Sakura had just been forced to purchase, lost some of his jocular qualities.

"I just thought you'd look better with a smile on your face." He mumbled and wandered off, though not out of ear shot. If Sakura had given it any thought, she would know that Naruto almost never showed this much of his light side to anyone any more. He would not have been taken seriously as a captain and a leader if he were still playing the fool. When Naruto lost about fifty IQ points and a dozen years it was because just being in her presence set him off balance and he reacted accordingly to that confusion. Long ago the Hokage realized that Naruto was many more times effective when Sakura was not on his team. Sakura had yet to recognize all these things and give Naruto the credit he deserved.

The rest of the shopping went off without a hitch, and Sakura could practically ignore her blond shadow. The day was nice, not too warm, and low winds stirred the leaves that were changing color. The cloth bag full of food bumped against her leg. Automatically, she turned to find Naruto, who had wandered off a while ago once she had snapped at him and she saw him talking to a girl. She was young, Sakura noticed with a deeply suspicious frown, but not young enough to keep her breasts from brushing against his arm as she excitedly grasped onto him. To his benefit Naruto looked more flustered than smitten, but he was a healthy young man and he would have to be flattered at the attention. Sakura hurumphed and stomped over with a twisted frown and fires burning in her eyes.

"I'm done shopping." She tried to get his attention, but the girl was giggling too loud and Naruto had that cocky smile on his face. "I said, I'm done shopping."

"Who are you?" The flirty girl was obviously uninterested in the answer.

Naruto's whole being seemed to inflate when he realized Sakura's presence. "This is my. . ." Then it deflated a little. ". . . friend, Sakura. Sakura this is Rika. . ." The girl seemed to greet this information with a degree of smugness that made Sakura uncomfortable. Sakura ground her teeth a little before speaking up.

"I'm sure she is. Can we go now?"

"Sure. See ya, Rika!" He disengaged his arm skillfully, and spun on his heel to follow Sakura who was already marching off in a slight huff. The girl, who couldn't believe she had been dismissed so easily, walked off with a sour expression. Sadly for Naruto, Sakura had seen none of this. All she could picture was the slightly embarrassed and pleased way that Naruto had spoken with the girl. That she had no right to be angry at him didn't seem relevant to her, but the vague sense of betrayal made her unreasonable.

Naruto was whistling behind her, something cheery and slightly off tune. Everything in Sakura twitched, as if he had no right to be happy when she was feeling so miserable. Of course, the thing people having a bad day love best is to spread those feelings around. Her personal rain cloud was big enough for two.

"I can't believe you."

"Hm?" He was all innocence and honest confusion.

"The way you lead women on. How can you ask me out in one breath and go after other girls right after? I thought you had more pride than that." She was digging into all his sore spots. It was as if she were trying to force some sort of confession from him, a confirmation of his devotion.

The poor boy had no way to deal with the onslaught. "Sakura, I didn't. . ."

"But you encouraged her." The venom in her voice surprised them both.

His countenance softened towards her as he held his arms in an open gesture and approached her. "You know that I would rather you. . ."

"When you do that kind of thing, it reminds me that the apple doesn't fall far from the toad summoning tree."

"That's not fair." He was becoming cross now at being attacked with no chance to defend himself. Naruto was not the sort to allow himself to feel cornered. He crossed his hands over his chest defensively and scowled. "You're being a real bitch today."

That was enough to send her teetering over the edge and completely into her foul mood. "Just because I don't plead for you to jump my bones every time you come around. . ." She dropped her bag on the ground and stabbed an accusatory finger into his chest. "Maybe you should just stop coming around."

"Maybe I should!" Naruto hated this, he was trying to sustain his anger but even if his voice was a loud bark his face was all dismay.

"Fine by me!" Sakura was making a scene, but she was too far gone to care. "You can keep your childishness and skirtchasing and get the hell out of my life! Maybe I can actually get a date again this way!" Her chest was heaving like a bellows and her eye twitched just a little.

The tall blond shinobi was looking off to the side, face blank. "Is that how you really feel? That I'm just holding you back?"

There was no way she knew how to answer the question. Sometimes, yes, she was angry at him for keeping other men from getting to close to her. However, if she had been truthful with herself she would have seen how she avoided other men in that way with or without Naruto's help. None of them seemed to live up to something she had been waiting for, and Sakura needed her romantic notions. The girl trying to pick up on Naruto today had fractured those dreams in a way she couldn't comprehend but certainly was enraged and threatened by.

Naruto's lips tightened together. "I see." He forced a smile. "See you round, Sakura." If she had expected slumped shoulders when he walked away, they were not to be found. It was just as she always suspected and her rejection couldn't possibly get to him for long. The rational voice in her head told her to stop him, but she crushed it down. Nothing had ever killed Naruto's spirit, not his lifetime of constant ridicule, being nearly murdered by his best friend, or her almost daily beatings on him. He was impervious, and she envied him his light attachment to the world.

There was a grim satisfaction in her heart as she picked up her discarded bag and continued home. The darkness in her poisoned thoughts was satisfied by her actions. Yes, he'd get it now, he would understand.

The trouble was. . . did she?

*

*

It took a while for her to accept that she had really hurt him, cut past that tough outer skin and demolished those fragile feelings he kept for her. At first she thought it had been like any other bad episode she had had with him (and there had been a few), but on his next day off he didn't come to see her. She didn't wait very long, but he usually came to find her wherever she was. It was worrying that he hadn't visited, and that evening she fended off calls from people and all her other errands to wait for him to come or to phone. The next day she didn't leave the house, and by evening she tried to call him, but all she got was the answering machine with him awkwardly asking people to leave a message. She hung up as soon as it beeped. Maybe he was sick and couldn't come to the phone. But that didn't make sense, since he particularly liked it when he was sick and he could be demanding of her to be attentive to his every whim. If it was worse than a cold, then he would hide it rather than let anyone see him be weak. She got herself worked up with worry, but still did nothing.

The third day, the last day before he would leave again for the next mission he had lined up, she paced about her apartment and tried to figure out what had gone wrong. Sakura found herself constructing their last encounter for hours as she waited, evaluating every word, every gesture they had both exchanged. At the end, other than feeling particularly bad for her harsh words, she suddenly realized what the difference had been.

His eyes. Those beautiful, shockingly electric blue eyes of his, they had been dull and guarded. They wore an expression that she had never witnessed on Naruto before, but she had seen them in her own mirror constantly as she had grown up. They held doubt, sadness, and worst of all they held the haunted acceptance of defeat. Naruto had given up on her.

No, she refused. He couldn't have given up on her. It was not something Naruto Uzumaki knew how to do. When one thought about Naruto, failure was one of the last terms anyone would use, and he had worked hard to be looked at that way. Everyone in the village offered him the acknowledgement he had craved from his earliest days, and only Sakura-the one person he had shown a soft spot towards, the only one who could cut him deeply-was the one who rejected him.

Suddenly, Sakura felt so ill that she almost ran to the bathroom to be sick. It wouldn't have done her throat any good since she hadn't eaten in more than a day and the acids would damage her esophagus. How many times, even in the midst of heated battles, had he turned those gentle eyes to her? It was impossible for him to deny his feelings and the love that she had thought was superficial had been sincere. Just because he had worn it on the outside she thought he couldn't be serious. It was a phase he would grow out of, she had justified, and so it had been easy to deny him at every turn. More than a decade later, he had stayed true and she was the one who was still lying to herself.

Hurting him had been a test for years, as if physical pain would shock him into realizing that she feared the depth and loyalty of his emotions and force him to give up before she got burned. For every declaration of love she had given him a bruise, and it hadn't shaken his resolve in the least. Weak people responded to emotional problems with physical violence, and Naruto had been a tender spot for her to probe in her own heart. His presence angered Sakura because she was scared of him, of the offer he freely presented to her by just existing.

There had been security in being the one who was sought. But now that he wasn't there she felt abandoned, shaky with the fear that the damage she had caused was irreparable. It was her turn to give him the benefit of her new insight. He had to know that she cared, that she hadn't meant the things she said. Sakura would find the strength, finally, to let him know that living without him was something she couldn't accept. Even she was not sure of what this meant, but he had to understand. She didn't want to lose him over the misunderstanding that she had purposefully created between them out of years of heated words and abuse, merely culminating in her actions the last time they had been together because of jealousy and insecurity.

Sakura showered, washed the grime off her body as if she could wash away her guilt, and anxiously prepared herself. She picked out the prettiest outfit she owned, the most expensive, and tried to do everything possible to look attractive. Lightly she applied cosmetics, painting her fingers and toes in the same pale pink as her hair. Eyeliner, lipstick, jewelry, matching purse. . . she pulled out all the stops just as she would have for a date with a boy she wanted to impress. The last time she had dated, the last time she had cared to try to catch a boy's attention, had been before she became a chuunin. Naruto had filled her world so effectively she hadn't had a need for anyone else.

If he accepted her apology then she would ask him out on a date. Nothing would be open this time of night except the twenty four hour restaurants, and she would gladly buy him cheap ramen if he would let her. The time had come to try and meet Naruto on common ground. She was scared, far more frightened than she expected, and her hand shook as she stowed a kunai in her purse and one more at her thigh just in case. Senbon held up her hair decoratively. When it came down to it, she was a kunoichi, and she tried to steel her resolve and gain back some of the confidence she had possessed as recently as this morning.

Had laying his feelings on the line been this scary for Naruto? Sakura felt her heart sink further into her belly in empathy and regret for the way she had ignored him. Tears tried to appear in her eyes, but she told herself sternly that ninjas didn't cry. It wasn't convincing, and hadn't been even when she was young, but she needed to get angry at herself to keep her emotions from spilling over and locking up her words inside of her.

The way to Naruto's was one that she knew well. When they spent time together usually they ended up at his place because whenever he went over to hers he would either break something accidentally (out of nervousness at being in her living space) or get things dirty carelessly. It was just better all around that they go to his place, hardly used and mostly bare, but comfortable. Sakura knew Naruto's apartment better than her own, from the way the fridge made that scary screeching noise until you kicked it to the scrolls and clothes scattered all around his bedroom as if a jounin had exploded. The bathroom ceiling had scary mold that no scrubbing could get rid of, and the living room had shelves that tilted as if they were about to fall, but which never would because Naruto had made them and somehow they were sturdy despite outward appearances. He was not sloppy, just rushed, and his home improvements had been creative if dubious looking. Even the rabbit ears on his TV had been folded by him for the "maximum reception" of two and a half channels and looked more like modern art gone wrong than what they were supposed to.

It made her well ordered rooms, clean and neat, seem sterile and boring in comparison. Hell, her life was sterile and boring most of the time when he wasn't there to mess things up and rile her into action. Sakura had been perfect for too long, perfectly hardworking, perfectly smart, perfect in attendance, perfectly devoted to her friends. . . but inside she had known that she was all image. Only Naruto had ever been subject to her inner voices and impulses, even if they had been violent ones. He had had one version of the truth of the matter, but at least he had seen some of the real her and had still liked her for it.

With a stomach that ached with emptiness and nerves, Sakura knocked on the door. The lights were out and he might even be asleep already in anticipation for the beginning of his mission tomorrow, but she didn't care and this time pounded on the door demandingly. A light came on in the window, and she continued to pound as her body twitched in fear response, adrenaline humming in her blood.

"Damn it, I'm coming!" Naruto yelled out. There was a banging noise and he swore again, this time more biliously, and he hopped a little on one foot as he opened the door. "This better be damn importa. . . Sakura?" The rage in his eyes stopped flashing and was replaced by that dreaded dullness. . . and maybe some curiosity when he saw her appearance.

They stood there for seconds in which Sakura could count more heartbeats in her throat than could possibly be healthy. Naruto just gawked at her and scratched his hair, which was sticking out at odd angles as if he had just been sleeping. He must have been, because he would never wear those outlandish boxers with the multi colored shurikens on them in public, nor would he wander around without a shirt. Sakura forced her mind away from his chest and back to her task.

"Can I come in?" She was proud of how strong the statement was even with the butterflies in her stomach trying to violently eject themselves. Naruto stopped leaning one shoulder against the doorway and walked in, but left the door open for Sakura to follow.

He sat down in the old red chair in the living room, arms folded, eyes narrowed, and she stood before him as if in front of a review board. Only this was far more important to her than her conduct and performance on missions. Sakura forced herself not to fiddle with the hem of her blouse and took a deep breath before she began.

"I came here, in the middle of the night, to tell you that. . ." Her pride choked her words, clamped down on her throat. Apologies were always hard for a girl who had rarely had the need for them. She sighed and then tried again. "I mean, as things stand, and concerning my behavior for. . . well. . . always. . ."

Not the best at patience, Naruto gave her a cockeyed look. "Just spit it out. I need to get some sleep."

"I'm trying to apologize to you, you idiot!" That wasn't the way she wanted to say it. Habit had forced out what careful preparation and thought couldn't. But now that it was there. . . "I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I'm sorry." Her features softened into something hopeful and more than a little fearful.

Naruto looked unimpressed, his lips pressed thin until a yawn forced them apart. "Is that all?" There was no warmth in his voice and Sakura cringed.

"I thought about what I did to you, and I see now that I was scared." His eyebrows quirked at her words but settled as she stepped towards his chair and continued her explanation. "I don't want you to think that you aren't an important person to me."

"Oh?" He leaned back in the chair, face and body not giving away a bit of the softness that used to be the only thing he had been able show her.

A foot away from him, Sakura stopped. She couldn't allow herself to get any closer than this with the way her fingers had started to itch for physical closeness to match the sudden emotional bond that she had uncovered in her heart for her long time friend.

"In fact. . . I think that you're the most important person to me." The words were out now. She couldn't take them back. The feelings she had repressed and hid were laid out for them both to see and instead of it being wonderful and freeing as she had hoped, it simply made her feel like she had to vomit even more than when she initially realized them.

"Oh." Naruto, never the fastest one even if he was cunning, seemed to have trouble absorbing this. The pinched old man look he sometimes gave when he was thinking hard took over. "How sorry are you then?"

"What?"

"Are you 'I'll do anything for you' sorry? Or are you more 'It was a huge mistake and I'm mean and terrible-so I'll do anything for you' sorry?"

"What?!" Her tempered flared up reflexively, forgetting to see how the small smile that he offered up came coupled with the reborn sparkle in his eyes that existed only for her.

The sly blond man aggravated her further. "I don't think your apology is going to do it for me. Come back some other time when you have a better one."

"Naruto," Sakura drew out his name at the vowels in a threatening manner. "If you don't get it, then I'll very well show you what kind of 'sorry' I am!" Her arms reached out to grab him by the face and pull him up while she leaned down and ground their lips together. Ever the opportunist, Naruto stuck his hands in her hair and pulled her in further so that their knees knocked against one another. The clatter her senbon made as they hit the floor shocked Sakura back to her immediate reality where Naruto's mouth was moving over hers with fervor, his hands massaging her scalp. Her neck hurt to bend at this angle otherwise she couldn't say the sensation wasn't everything she'd dreamed of when she thought of kissing the person she loved.

"Hell yeah," Naruto grinned fit to split his face when they broke for air. "But I'm not sure that apology was good enough either. . ."

Sakura's eyes were lidded, her lipstick smudged from the enthusiastic kiss she had just taken part in. A cloudy portion of her mind noted that she didn't want to ask him out on a date. It felt like they had been on one long bad date most of their lives, and it had only been bad thanks to her. Well, it may have taken a few years, but she knew that she was perfectly ready to take things up a notch. . . and quickly.

"What about this then?" Sakura unlocked her knees, opening up her legs so that she could straddle Naruto on the chair. Naruto sat bolt upright as if he had just been shocked, and Sakura noted with a trace a humor that everything seemed to have come to attention. Her skirt rode up on her thighs and Naruto's hands took advantage of this to rub his palms over her as she angled in for another kiss. The kunai she had hid joined the senbon on the floor in seconds, and the feel of his skin on hers was intoxicating. If the first kiss had been romantic then this one was blatantly sexual with Sakura running her tongue on the inside of his lips to encourage his own exploration of her mouth. Naruto responded with the energy she never would have guessed he had when he sleepily opened the door to her not so long ago. She drew back from him, purposefully breaking contact and he lunged forward a little at the sudden lack of sensation. His pink tongue snatched off moisture from his lips and Sakura wondered if she should stop now or take this any further.

"That was," he had to pant in between. "Closer." In typical Naruto style he seemed to think if a little was good then a lot would be even better. It was easy to be swept up in the intensity of his emotions, and Sakura knew that his challenge was one she could no longer resist. It didn't mean she wasn't going to go down kicking just a little.

"I got all dressed up so that I could ask you out," Sakura said in gasps as he began to work his mouth over the column of her exposed neck, and she leaned her head back to give him better access. "I thought that if I looked prettier that I would have more confidence to tell you. . . but really I thought you'd just be more likely to say yes." Her insecurities were laid open to him now, and she didn't fear the outcome anymore.

Naruto pulled away at that comment, leaving Sakura's skin tingling where he had been sucking on her. "Sakura, you could have showed up in nothing at all and my answer would have been the same." He said it with a snort, and then started to undo the buttons on her blouse. She refrained from pointing out how humorous his comment was in light of what they were doing, but she knew what he meant.

Happily she felt him swell under her as he exposed her to his vision. His touch on top of her bra was almost reverent. This was something he had dreamed, fantasized really, about since he had been old enough to be curious about sex. The experience of being able to touch her, to share himself with her, was special to him and the way he was treating her reflected his respect even if his hormones were driving him to go as fast as possible and claim completely what he had seen as his for more than a decade. She shrugged off the shirt for him, and he fiddled with the bra while not being able to take his eyes off of her breasts. Growing frustrated with his inability to navigate the straps he tilted the cups out from under the soft orbs and watched, entranced, when they sprang free. Sakura laughed at his dazed expression and removed the bra herself.

"What are you looking at?" If she felt inadequate about her body, she didn't want to say. The less she drew attention to it, the less likely he would be to notice. But she needn't have cared.

"You're beautiful." He told her before wrapping his arms around her and pressing their skin together as he kissed her again. Sakura felt how hard his chest was, how her breasts flattened to accommodate, and sighed happily at the feeling of her nipples scraping over him.

The hard mound she had straddled in his boxers twitched and Sakura got a thought that made her smile even while their lips were locked together. She pushed Naruto back and he looked at her quizzically. "I know a better way to say I'm sorry." The terminology had taken on the quality of a game, and they both knew it, but he didn't quite understand where she was taking it.

Sakura climbed off his lap, and he watched her with bright eyes as she kneeled down in front of him and slipped a hand into his boxers to draw him out to her view. As soon as she touched him his eyes closed and his whole body seemed to flex and tense. Truly, Naruto was a gorgeous man, and with that thought she confronted the obvious manifestation of his desire for her. Lightly, she brushed his skin with her hands to get the feel of him, and he grasped to tops of the legs of the chair in an attempt to restrain his reaction as he also bit his lip. Then, at the warm feel of her enveloping him in her mouth, his eyes were driven open. On some level, he thought he might still be in bed dreaming. This had been dreams like this, but they always ended with him waking up at crucial moments.

Naruto didn't dare a double take in case he missed a second of the view Sakura offered him. Rich blood flowed over his tongue as he bit into his lip, but he refused to let go and suddenly bleed out all of his feelings and thoughts in a torrent of nonsense. His eyes watered and still he could not blink or look away, and Sakura glanced up to give him a sultry look. She was in the position of power here, and her tongue caressed him, the tip of it outlining his head and forcing Naruto to shudder. The was she slid him as far down as she could manage, only to draw back and then plunge him down a little further was trying his grasp on sanity. He wanted more of her than he was getting.

"S-Sakura. . ." he forced his body to relax before all his muscles cramped at once, but all that accomplished was for his eyes to roll back in his head. This was too much. "You need to. . ." If he was honest with himself he didn't want her to stop. Yet, the hesitation in his voice, so different from his usual confidence, were enough to make her cease her activities.

"Naruto?"

"This isn't enough."

Her eyebrows drew together in strong displeasure. "I'm sorry if my apology isn't as skilled as. . ."

"No, that's not it." Naruto snagged a finger into the hem of her skirt. He seemed almost bashful about his words in a way that he was not bashful at his body in this moment. The ground was where he directed his confession. "Stay here tonight. I want you to stay here tonight."

There was a time in her life, anytime before about five or six hours ago, when she would have laughed off the invitation. To her, it would have been the grasping attempt of a lonely man to further entrap her. Now, this request was just what she was looking for.

"I get the bed." She relieved his mind with a smile, wiping a thumb over her saliva slick bottom lip.

"Me too." Naruto returned the smile with interest and jumped up out of the chair. He picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, which she found painful, but since the wind had been knocked out of her by the surprise action she couldn't so much except cough.

In a flurry of floorboards past her vision, Sakura was thrown onto the bed with a minimum of grace. Naruto, naked, gracefully flopped down beside her. She laughed and hid her face out of a sense of disbelief that this was actually happening, but his slightly leering but definitely excited face greeted her at every peek through her fingers. He was busily divesting her of the last of her clothing. Naruto tickled and nuzzled every inch of her exposed skin, making her crawl at the discomfort of being examined so closely. The squeals she gave egged him on and soon he was just tickling her. It wasn't a fight she was trying to win, and Sakura gave herself over to the twitching of her body in laughter.

When they both calmed down, the mood was congenial and less sexual, but it charged immediately when they both noticed his placement between her open thighs. Naruto's playful expression halted, became heated again, and he kissed her on the stomach when he was unsure of how to proceed. Knowing better them him how her interior was shaped to receive him, Sakura grabbed him herself and guided the head of the shaft in. They pushed together clumsily, but the blush on their cheeks changed to the flush of pleasure as the movement picked up its pace.

The experience was beginning to build to a resolution for Sakura when Naruto shuddered above her and grasped onto her body so hard he probably left a few bruises behind for later. She tried to hide her disappointment, but she wasn't surprised considering her prepping of him before and the fact that this was. . .

Was it?

"Is this. . . your first time Naruto?" He had gone still, his hair brushing her cheek. It was soft, fine, and she wanted to run her hands through it so she did just that.

The wild eyes he turned her way were filled with humor and his voice shook as he replied. ". . . but not the last." True enough, he was hardening again within her. Number one at surprising people, yes, but Naruto also held the largest reserves of stamina in the village. This new development was no surprise.

They continued, their pace slower this time, and they changed positions. They spoke to one another in hushed tones, sometimes encouragements but more often blatant expressions of pleasure. Sometimes it seemed like Naruto was everywhere, touching, tasting, but then she was doing the same, all the while savoring the feel of him inside of her. Sakura built finally to her climax before Naruto's third release. They were sitting up, as they had been in the chair, and something about the angle of it created a rush of tension that unwound before she could summon any will to prolong it.

Drops of sweat flew off of her hair as Sakura tossed her head back with Naruto's name on her lips. She shuddered around him and while she strained he found his own release once more. Sakura slumped forward onto him and fit her chin over his shoulder. Still connected at the waist, Sakura wished that this feeling of content, of completion, could last.

"I love you Sakura. You're it for me." Naruto said it softly, but he didn't need to be forceful to grasp right into Sakura's center and shake her foundations. Her heart beat erratically and she tried to force her throat to open and create a response. To distract him from the emotional import of his words he followed this with a joke. "Even in sex you had to make me wait for you."

That was enough to allow Sakura to gain her footing. She knew how to react to this kind of challenge. "It's not my fault you can't do anything right the first time." The bite to her words was dulled by the way she was planting kisses against his shoulder and neck.

"A little quantity can make up for the lack of quality." He laughed. Naruto stroked her back and pulled them to lie on their sides, separating their intimate connection. Then, in a sulky voice he eventually added, "But I always do the best when I get a little practice."

"We can practice all you want later. . ."

Naruto leaned over her, face bright and hopeful. "Promise?"

Sakura just laughed and brought his perky face in for a kiss.

*

*

"Took you long enough."

She thought about telling him off, forcing some of the blame on him too, but the anger that tried to surface died again just as quickly. Things were different, and she didn't need anger as a defense mechanism to keep her away from this man anymore. Instead of the slap, she traced his lips and tried not let herself panic at the way she had opened up herself to him.

"I suppose I owe you an 'apology' for that too."

Naruto caught the drift of her thoughts and grinned fit to split his face. "Oh, of course, but remember you owe me apologies for every undeserved punch, for all the digs at my ego, for all the times you treated me like dirt when we were little. Why that one day at the academy a couple days before exams. . ."

"I get the idea! At this rate I'll be apologizing for years!"

"You'll be apologizing forever, the way I calculate it."

Sakura sighed. "You were always bad at math though. . . the worst."

"That's not very fair of you. Maybe I should make you apologize. . ." The sight of a tawny, handsome, and hungry male in the morning made Sakura squeal internally in glee, but even if he was willing to throw everything to the side to glory in their new bond she had to insert some reality into this picture.

"You're going to be late for your mission start time!"

The lust filled gaze, turning his eyes dark blue, became crystal with panic as he began to throw on clothes and grab scrolls. Sakura watched from the bed with amusement. He stopped only long enough to give her a lingering kiss before running out the door to meet his team. The words he had left with her were slightly scary, but also hopeful for a girl whose doubts had ruled her for too long.

She flopped on the bed and stared at the ceiling. ". . . 'I expect to find you just where I left you when I get back. We're not done yet.'"

It was going to be a long week without him.


End file.
